Medical expert: Bertrand Traore is now ‘focusing on pre-season’ after latest Aston Villa blow
Bertrand Traore’s focus for the remainder of 2021-22 will be to get in shape for Aston Villa ahead of pre-season.
That is the view of injury expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in medicine and data analysis.
Traore, who recently returned from the Africa Cup of Nations with Burkina Faso, has suffered a hamstring injury in training at Bodymoor Heath.
As quoted by Birmingham Live last Friday (11 February), Steven Gerrard revealed: “We’re going to lose Berto for a few weeks.”
A separate thigh injury has kept the 26-year-old winger out for the majority of the season so far.
And Dinnery predicts that Villa will be looking to get Traore ready for 2022-23 rather than overburden him for the remainder of the campaign.
“This is a difficult one,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“The initial noises are that it doesn’t appear to be on the higher end of the injury spectrum.
“Steven Gerrard has said a few weeks, so we’re maybe looking at a high grade one, so maybe two to three weeks.
“However, the context is we’re talking about a player who has only played 115 minutes of Premier League football all season.
“We’re not talking about getting players ready for the here and now. It’s about ensuring they stay available once they return.
“It may be the case that they are just looking to manage Traore between now and the end of the season.
“Get a few starts under his belt and some minutes but with a big focus on preparing him for pre-season.
“Once he gets that pre-season under his belt, he can hopefully hit the ground running next season.”
Traore scored one goal and supplied two assists as Burkina Faso reached the semi-final of the Cup of Nations.
He signed for Villa from Lyon for £17million in September 2020 and is under contract until 2024.
In other news, Noel Whelan tips Aston Villa to agree Jacob Ramsey deal after behind-the-scenes reveal.